Six Highly Regarded Corporate Partners Join Hunton & Williams; International Law Firm Forges Powerful Miami Business Practice

Business Wire, May 2, 2001

Business Editors, Legal Writers

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2001

Hunton & Williams, an international law firm with approximately 800 attorneys in 15 offices around the world, announced that six corporate partners will join its Miami office today.

They are Carlos Loumiet, Fernando Alonso, Alberto Hernandez, Roberto Pupo, Enrique Martin and Fernando Margarit. All six were previously shareholders in Greenberg Traurig.

"This group of partners is the leading corporate practice group in Miami, and has one of the most accomplished and recognized Latin American practice capabilities in the U.S.," said Hunton & Williams Managing Partner Thurston Moore. "Clients represented by the group include major financial institutions, telecommunications and technology companies, energy concerns and healthcare organizations."

"Carlos and Fernando have developed a first-class international corporate group that is multilingual and multicultural," said Marty Steinberg, Managing Partner of the firm's Miami office. "They are skilled in mergers & acquisitions, project finance, capital markets and technology transactions, and the members of the group are individually well-known in Spain and Latin America. They also played a key role in the development of South Florida's Internet hub. This move is consistent with our strategy of identifying and recruiting the finest attorneys in Florida."

"The addition of this group will significantly expand Hunton & Williams' international practice capability," said Jeff Jones, the head of the firm's Business Practice Group. "They will be the driving force behind a focused strategy to develop the pre-eminent Latin American practice among law firms operating in the Miami, New York, Washington, D.C. and London markets."

Mr. Loumiet, who will become co-head of Hunton & Williams' International Practice Group and will also head its Florida Business Practice Group, said he was "very excited by the opportunity to join a firm with an established mature international presence. We already see tremendous synergies between our practice and clients and Hunton's existing capabilities and clientele." Mr. Alonso, who with Mr. Loumiet will co-chair the firm's Latin American Practice Team, also noted that "Hunton & Williams' deep national and international litigation capabilities, coupled with its significant M&A and capital markets strength, will expand the range of services we can offer to clients in the U.S., Europe and Latin America."

Mr. Loumiet was chairman of the international and banking practices at his previous firm. Highlights of his 23-year career include his leadership of Florida statewide task forces on international arbitration and the Internet and representation of many financial institutions and foreign governments in commercial and regulatory matters.

Among his numerous professional and community associations, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Florida International Bankers Association and the South Florida Shakespeare Festival; he also chaired the Florida Latin America Internet Task Force established in 1999. A frequent speaker and writer, Mr. Loumiet has been recognized professionally by The American Lawyer and the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review ("Lawyer of the Americas," 1996). He has taught international banking and banking regulation at Yale Law School, where he earned his J.D. degree, and at the University of Miami Law School. He also earned a B.A. degree summa cum laude from Yale and both B.A. and M.A. degrees in Jurisprudence from Oxford University, which he attended as a Marshall Scholar.

Mr. Alonso has more than 17 years experience in the international, corporate and securities and banking fields. He represents a broad range of publicly-owned and privately-held U.S. and foreign companies and financial institutions. He is regularly involved in acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and other business transactions, including cross-border transactions. His practice also involves representation of companies in connection with their equity and debt financings.

Mr. Alonso regularly represents foreign clients in connection with U.S. acquisitions, as well as domestic companies in connection with their international expansion. He has particular expertise in representing multinational telecommunications carriers and service providers, as well as energy companies.

Mr. Alonso is a member of the Board of Directors of Terrabank NA and a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Cuban Museum of the Americas. He is a supporter of numerous philanthropic and charitable organizations. Mr. Alonso received his B.A. degree from Yale College, having graduated summa cum laude and as member of Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. degree from Yale Law School, where he serves on the Executive Committee.

Alberto Hernandez specializes in corporate and health care matters, as well as a broad spectrum of international business transactions. Enrique Martin specializes in corporate and securities law matters, representing issuers and underwriters in public and private debt and equity offerings, and investor groups and multinational companies in connection with various forms of domestic and cross-border acquisitions and joint ventures. Roberto Pupo represents a varied array of U.S.-based and foreign companies in cross-border mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, project finance and healthcare transactional matters. Fernando Margarit's practice focuses primarily on international transactional matters, including cross-border acquisition, joint venture and financing transactions.